Following the release of the latest footage, we figured it was a good time to solicit fans for questions about it -- or the game in general. Here’s a handful of what you sent our way:

slayerming2: In the original Kickstarter, you called a certain character a thief, but it seems like in the more recent video, it’s called a rogue. Are you moving away from the original idea? How stealth focus can you play, if you want to be as stealthy as possible?

We don’t have specific character classes in Underworld Ascendant per se, such as a Thief or Rogue class. Rather players can gain skills and abilities that fall broadly into combat, stealth, or magic categories. The player can choose to bear down in one those categories; creating a character who is very adaptable in physical combat situations, or is able to creep into areas to get the lay of the land and sneak past tough opponents, or unlock the “source code of reality” with runic magic. Or they could mix and match, say, creating a powerful mage sort who also had a few stealth skills, enabling them to better sneak into an area, see what challenges await, and prepare just the right spell.

It’s all about player choice -- and since you can’t exceed at everything, you’ll have to decide where to focus. Skills and abilities will be distinctly different enough where you can play through multiple times and potentially have a very different gameplay experience. (Paul and Joe talk about this more in the Quarter to Three podcast here.)

On your question of stealth focus, stealth in our game will feel a little different than in other games, thus the use of the term “rogue.” We’ll get into exactly how later on, but since our lead designer Tim Stellmach was the lead designer on the original Thief at Looking Glass, I think we can safely say stealth will be a distinctly fun experience in Underworld Ascendant.

rustbyte: I’m curious to how you envision boss-type encounters. Can we see boss-like (ie ‘Elite’) mobs in the game?

Not sure if our creatures will hit that exact description, but there will definitely be challenging creatures with a robust set of skills and abilities, sometimes including the power to alert or command other monsters. The first who comes to mind is the Arch-Lich Tyball, who you may recall in pre-undead form in the original Ultima Underworld.​GameOutLoudRob: What’s one awesome thing the player will be able to do in your game and no other?

With the Improvisation Engine, there will be dozens of unique actions that the player can come up with. Between the players’ interactions with the environment, the procedural runic magic system, and the opportunities to influence the behaviors of the creatures in The Stygian Abyss. If we do our jobs correctly, Underworld Ascendant will have one of the most dynamic game toolboxes you’ve ever played with.

uutsa: Why did you chose to use such an ultra-low field of view value [in the recent footage]?

We have more than a year of work left on Underworld Ascendant, so many details like FOV will change repeatedly over time, but I can say that we currently have it adjusted to 90 as a default and it will be alterable.

mg: I seem to remember that zombies were a categorical no-no a few months ago. Have you come to your senses in this regard already?

Currently there’s no plans for zombies, but… you’ll likely find our take on Underworld Ascendant’s undead ecology to be fairly intriguing. More on that later, but we’re pretty excited about it, so hopefully you will be too.

MentalKase: Are you planning on having branching dialogue trees and will you be able to talk your way out of fights with intelligent creatures?

Underworld Ascendant’s narrative system is one element of the game we’re holding off on talking about in full detail right now, but mean to dig into in a big way later. It’s another aspect we think is potentially pretty unique, so can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Toddsworth: Is there an estimated time when the playable prototype will be released to backers? Just wondering and really excited!

We’re working on having a new Playable Prototype -- one that’s focused on fun interactions with the Improvisation Engine -- ready to share with backers the second half of November.

That’s it for this round. Thanks for all the questions! We’ll be answering a few morehere on our forums over the next week and change. Don’t forget to join in!Finally, next Wednesday, November the 4th at 1pm ET, the team will be conducting another OtherSide Plays OtherGames Twitch session. This time we will be playing Dishonored. We hope to have some special guests to announce as well, so stay tuned for more info over the coming week.

Nearly four and a half years after it was first announced, Underworld Ascendant was finally released today, with more of a whimper than a bang. This game's development is truly one of the most shameful events of the Kickstarter era. It's one thing when a group of respected developers from the old days (and there are few who were more respected than this bunch) fail to recreate the magic and come out with a disappointing game. God knows we've seen plenty of that. It's quite another thing when they reveal themselves to have had no idea how to even make a game.

To be sure, Ascendant is janky, buggy and incomplete, but its real problem is quantity rather than quality. It's been cut down to the absolute minimum. With enough patching, its gameplay could perhaps become acceptable, but we didn't need to bring Paul Neurath and Tim Stellmach out of retirement to create what is basically an Early Access indie dungeon survival game of the sort that three-man teams from Eastern Europe release on Steam every week. Frankly, it's kind of hard to believe that the game even exists. It's the sort of project that's supposed to get cancelled and rebooted before ever seeing the light of day. The really sad thing, though, is that there aren't enough people who care to have even made much of a fuss about it.

Naturally, there are no reviews of the game, only a flurry of interviews with Warren Spector and a few "sponsored" previews on YouTube. It won't be long before the fun begins, though. If for some reason you'd like to experience it first-hand, Ascendant is available on Steam for $30 with a 15% launch discount until next week. Apparently GOG have refused to stock the game, which really tells you all you need to know.

I just remembered there's a promised Underworld Ascendant novel. ...I almost want to read it. I'm assuming that half the pages are blank or missing and after the first chapter it turns into a cookbook.

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The new Leisure Suit Larry has more passion and respect for its source material. I will repeat that. The new LEISURE SUIT LARRY is a more respectable game than A NEW ULTIMA UNDERWORLD. (And the new Larry is actually okay, I mean it more on a series level than bashing the new one)